17 Hamilton Avenue

 

Origins of Woodsdale

Archibald Woods (1764-1846) was born and raised in Albemarle County, Va.  During the Revolutionary War he enlisted in the Virginia Militia at the age of only 16.  At the war's end in 1783, he and two of his brothers emigrated to the Ohio Valley.  Having received warrants for several thousand acres in remuneration for his service in the war, Archibald, like many of his fellow veterans, availed himself of the lucrative opportunity to speculate in "western" lands, a business in which he was eminently successful. Over several years, he occupied himself in surveying and purveying lands in the Ohio Valley, and in the process, he accrued a very substantial estate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1787, Archibald built the first wing of "Woodsdale," a home on Homestead Lane that would remain the family seat for over 160 years. Plans from 1815-1816 reveal a modest home consisting of "a frame house 26 feet by 34 in the clear two stories high..." It was here that Archibald Woods brought his bride, Anne Pogue, in 1789 to live and raise a family, and succeeding generations added their own touches, extending the house and grounds. Archibald's son John J. (b. 1807) continued farming the land, and following his marriage to Ruth H. Jacob in 1848, began raising his own family on the John J. Woods Home Farm. In 1891, Ruth and her children ceded a portion of the original property to establish Woodsdale Park, and in 1897, John's heirs further subdivided the estate.  The original homestead was torn down in 1949.

 

(1)Ownership John Wells Nichols (1843-1906) and his wife Luella Cotts Nichols (1853-1935) built the house at 17 Hamilton Avenue circa 1891.  They sold it in 1895 to Martha Chrystal Patterson (2) who was living in the house in 1920 according to Census records of that year.  Mrs. Patterson died in 1926 and left the house in her will to a relative, Miss Lovdie Leonard of Wheeling (3).  Miss Leonard sold the house to Margaret Shipley Wallace, wife of John Bertram Wallace in 1933 (4).  Mrs. Wallace died in 1964 and left the house to her daughter Margaret Wallace McKay.  Mrs. McKay died in 1988 and left the house to her husband, E. Douglas McKay, a Wheeling attorney (5).  The McKays raised their three sons at 17 Hamilton Avenue.  After Mr. McKay’s death the house was sold at auction in 2012 to the present owners, Kristy and Christopher Figaretti. (6)

 

17 Hamilton Avenue

The house at 17 Hamilton Avenue, located at the corner of Homestead Lane and Hamilton Avenue may well be the oldest surviving original dwelling in the Woodsdale neighborhood.  Its original carriage barn still stands behind the house.  The deed describes “Woodsdale Park”, the green space that runs from Sheetz Service Center along Bethany Pike to Homestead Lane.  It notes that the park is “a private park or pleasure ground and for no other purpose but such privilege and right” of the owners of lots adjoining it. (7)

 

The lot on which the house is built was purchased on May 30, 1891 by John Wells Nichols from Ruth H. Woods, widow of John Woods, and their sons, Joseph J. Woods, George W. Woods, and Hamilton Woods (8) for whom Hamilton Avenue is named.  The location of the lot is directly across from the former location of the Woods homestead hence “Homestead Lane.”  Mr. Nichols built the house circa 1891 to provide his three children with a home closer to Wheeling during the school year.  His two daughters, Grace (1881 – 1973) and Stella Elizabeth (1886-1948) attended Miss Hart’s School and later Wheeling High School; his son Baird Cotts Nichols (1875-1933) attended Linsly Institute at 15th and Eoff Streets.  Otherwise the family resided on Washington Farms, which was held in Hugh Nichols’ Trust for his grandson John Wells Nichols.

 

Hugh Nichols was a vast landholder.  In 1857 he purchased 375-acre Washington Farms from William and Margaret Gregg.  All told Hugh Nichols owned 2,000 acres including farms, town properties and he also operated a ferry across the Ohio River.  He was a principal investor in James M. Todd and Co., the second iteration of the Top Mill or Missouri Iron Works, founded by Michael Sweeney, Thomas Johnston, Jr., A. N. Johnston and James M. Todd in 1852.

 

John Wells Nichols was one of 12 children born to George Washington Nichols (1818-1901) and Elizabeth Meek Robinson (1821-1904).  He was a farmer who was prominent in Ohio County politics. In 1882 he was elected a County Commissioner representing Richland District (9).  That same year the County Commissioners elected him to the Board of Health (10).  In 1898 he served as a delegate representing Richland District, Ohio County at the 1st District Democratic Party Convention in Weston (11).  Mr. Nichols also served as Superintendent for the Horse Department of the West Virginia State Fair in 1891(12).

 

He obviously took his farming seriously judging from this piece from the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, May 4, 1888:

 

“Mr. John W. Nichols, the member of the Board of County Commissioners from Richland District, has a fine Chester White sow, which Mr. Nichols thinks as beaten the record recently by giving birth to 14 healthy, sound pigs at one litter.  If anybody has a larger litter to report, the Intelligencer will be glad to hear from them.”

 

Features

In 1976 the Friends of Wheeling provided a regular feature on historic buildings in the Wheeling News-Register.  A profile of 17 Hamilton Avenue was published on June 17 of that year.  Most of the information in the caption of a photograph of the house is accurate, but the in the biographical sketch, the writer confused John Wells Nichols with his grandfather, Hugh Nichols.  Some features of the house were cited in the profile’s description:

 

“Below the gable roof on the east side of the house, a charming arched two-light window punctuates the third floor.  Smaller stained glass panes border the spectacular window and scrolled hood molding decorates it.  Immediately below, matching scrolls form hoods over the two windows in the second story bay.  Large columned front and back porches add to the Victorian architecture of the house.  Inside can be found the initials of John Nichols in the brass work of the sliding doors.  Partially visible in the picture is the original carriage barn now used as a garage and believed to be the only barn of its kind standing inside the city limits today.”

 

 

By Jay Frey

September 5, 2014

 

Sources

1.     Woods Family Papers 1704-1994 William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan

• Ohio County Deed Book 93, p. 504

• Ohio County Will Book 14, p. 577

• Ohio County Deed Book 233, p. 75

• Ohio County Will Book 86, p.162

• Ohio County Deed Book 833, p. 128

• Ohio County Deed Book 87, p. 5

• Ibid

• Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, October 17, 1882

• Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, July 7, 1891

• Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, July 20, 1898

• Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, August 8, 1891